Pedrosa fights his way to victory at Le Mans

Dani Pedrosa is no stranger to being called 'the underdog', and ever since the start of the season, he has been able to relate to that tag with his new team-mate making all the right (or if you're Jorge Lorenzo, wrong) noises.

Experience counts, however. And Pedrosa showed why he's still Repsol Honda's No.1 rider with a calculated ride that saw him cruise to victory in what was a tricky, damp race at Le Mans.

With the lights going out, Andrea Dovizioso snatched first place from Marc Marquez - who endured a torrrid start to complete Lap 1 in 8th place - but was repeatedly challenged by Pedrosa, who went past Lorenzo on the first lap itself. After swapping places with Dovizioso a number of times, Pedrosa finally put paid to the Ducati rider's hopes once and for all with about half the race to go.

The soft compound meant that towards the end of the race, the dry surface wore the tyres out, resulting in some truly nerve-wracking moments for the riders, with Valentino Rossi falling off his Factory Yam with a handful of laps left, though he did re-mount his bike and finished the race in 12th place. Lorenzo never recovered from his poor start, and could only finish 8th, rounding off a disappointing outing for the team.

'Man of Steel' - three words that fit Cal Crutchlow perfectly. Nursing a fractured shin bone following Sunday's crash, he put in quite a bit of effort to bag 2nd place.

What about the wonder boy Marquez, you ask? The lad doesn't seem to be in a mood to lose out on a podium finish, at least not these days. From 8th on Lap 1 to 3rd place on the podium means he maintains his 100% podium finish record for 2013.

Pedrosa leads the championship, but with the next race at Mugello in two weeks' time, will he able to keep Marquez at bay for long? Not something Repsol Honda will complain about, sitting pretty at the top of the constructors' championship.